How to answer the Toughest Question

by Richard W. StevensEditor, The Bill of Rights Sentinel

Here's the question:

"Why do you so strongly oppose the government's
registering firearms and licensing gun owners?
Every car is registered; every driver is licensed
or should be. Cars are important and dangerous.
Guns are important and dangerous. So what's the
problem with gun registration and owner licenses?"

It's a tough question because it draws on the everyday example
of automobiles, and most everybody seems to accept state
regulation of cars and drivers. Many pro-gun people have real
trouble answering this question, and some among us have even
surrendered the point.

Logic and history prove that gun registration and owner
licensing pose grave threats to life and liberty. But we need
to deliver a powerful answer to the question without the social
studies lesson. The answer needs to be a fast effective sound
bite.

So we are offering the following three-reason package below.
This formula is the "long version." If you need to give a
quicker answer, then just give the first sentence of each
reason. You can deliver the "long version" in 45 seconds -
and the "short version" answer in less than 30 seconds.

Three Reasons in a Nutshell

Here is the answer you can give:

(1) Practically speaking, registration and licensing laws do
not affect criminals, they only affect innocent citizens.

(2) Fundamentally speaking, citizens in a free society do not
have to get permission from anyone to exercise their right to
self-defense, just as they don't need permission to freely
speak or worship. Licensing and registration schemes require
citizens to get permission to defend themselves, so those
schemes don't belong in a free society.

(3) Historically speaking, registration and licensing have
been part of "gun control" programs that made possible the
calculated mass murder of between 70 and 170 million people.
Registration and licensing make genocide easier, not harder.
I fight against genocide and I don't want to make genocide
easier anywhere in the world.

How to Use the Answer

This answer is only 120 words at the most, so you can memorize
it. It's pretty easy to memorize because it makes perfect sense.

Why memorize it? Because, when you are challenged, you need
to seize the initiative. A snappy but profound quick answer
gives no opportunity for interruptions. Speed and power are
critically important when the questioner is hostile or you are
being interviewed for radio or television. You don't want to
have to think of the answer - you need to deliver it
immediately.

After you give the "long version" answer, you can turn the
tables on the questioner. Ask this zinger question:

"Now that you know the truth about registration and
licensing, how can you support those ideas?"

Dealing With The Objections

Objection # 1: "Driving a two-ton car at 60 mph is a privilege,
not a right. Owning a lethal weapon should be considered a
privilege, too."

Your answer: "Driving a car on tax-funded roads might subject
you to the tax-funded government regulations. Exercising the
right to self defense, however, doesn't depend on tax-funded
resources and should never require anybody's permission."

Your answer: "License plates and driver's licenses don't
prevent any crimes, they only help track suspects after the
fact. Serious criminals frequently use stolen cars and plates;
many drive without valid licenses. Likewise, serious criminals
will not be licensed and will use unregistered or stolen guns,
and the tracking feature is worthless anyway if the cops don't
find the gun."

Objection #3: "You're just paranoid; don't you trust our
government to license and register deadly weapons while
preserving your right to shoot?"

Your answer: "Wrong question. The government is supposed to
answer to you and me. Why does the government so distrust the
vast majority of decent non-violent firearms owners that it
wants to identify and track every owner and every firearm?"

* * *

What happens when the government holds monopoly power over
firearms? How do licensing and registration schemes kill?
Read the bone-chilling facts in Death by "Gun Control": The
Human Cost of Victim Disarmament ($16.95 postage paid). Order
the book by calling (800) 869-1884 or clicking on
http://www.jpfo.org/deathgc.htm . Get two free "Gran'pa Jack"
booklets with your order. Join JPFO -- still only $20 annual
dues.